Western Union Money Transfer

[schoona]

Evening all,

I need to order some parts from the states for the car. Its 163USD. I have ordered from Four Season Tuning.

Parts in question are HD strut mounts + bearings (Tim is sold out) and I'm getting the Prothane refresh kit too to tighten everything up.

Instead of normally just paying with credit card through the store, the idea is to use Western union. This is the first time I have used them.
The transfer is to a name, and location in california for an amount. I now have 24 hours to clal Western Union and "confirm my transfer". I then expect the money gets transferred. the man in the states collects it and provides info of the transfer, gets funds. Then ships my order.

Does this sound right?
Just curious and it's a lot of effort.

[team_v]

Rule 1 of the internet = never use western union.
There is no security over your money and they have no obligation to provide you with any goods.

Tell them to get paypal or give you a bank account or something.
Otherwise look elsewhere.

[Treza360]

As above. Western Union is always the first point of call in a scam.
Cheers,
Trent

[Stephy]

Ditto. With Western Union or a direct transfer you aren't covered in case it falls through, and for smaller amounts it's not worth the money to proceed with legal action to get it back. Hence, a lot of the scams are for a lot of smaller amounts, instead of one large one. Paypal or credit card is the only way to go.

[schoona]

Thanks lads, I have sent an email to FourSeason Tuning requesting bank details and what not because Im not comfortable with the process involved here. No money should be sent where things are so hopefully that stays the case.

As I said, thanks again.
Mal

[schoona]

And thanks for Steph too. haha

[Rocket36]

Dude... USE PAYPAL!!! Sending cash by ANY means, overseas, before receiving your items is just asking to be ripped off!

[Stephy]

...thank you very much!

[Maverick]

Rule 1 of the internet = never use western union.
There is no security over your money and they have no obligation to provide you with any goods.

Tell them to get paypal or give you a bank account or something.
Otherwise look elsewhere.

BS. If they are an established company or known person there is no risk. Using western union is not that much different to paying via a TT. I've used Western Union a number of times when dealing with various companies around the world and never had a problem.

Relying on the payment method to protect you from fraud isn't what you should be doing but instead checking out the credentials of the seller, the type of product and so on.

It's a two way street, there is a hell of a lot of credit card and paypal fraud because stupid people supply their details to non legitimate sellers (see above) and rely on their bank to cover their stupidity and a lot of companies won't accept credit cards from overseas for this reason.

Western Union is just a method of payment and don't dismiss it because many stupid people have sent money to Nigeria (and other related countries) and gone running to ACA and Today Tonight to broadcast their gullibility.

Edit: Just looked at the four season tuning website and a quick glance doesn't raise any concerns, the value of the products are low and if you look at the order info they do address verification which the Australian banks do not offer (In the US the retailer can confirm that the shipping and mailing address matches that which the credit card company has on file which is a way to cut down fraud in a big way).

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: CURRENTLY, FOUR SEASON DISTRIBUTION INC DOES NOT SHIP INTERNATIONALLY VIA OUR WEBSITE (EXCEPT CANADA AND THE U.K. VIA PAYPAL),WE CAN HOWEVER ACCEPT BANK WIRE OR WESTERN UNION PAYMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL ORDERS, PLEASE EMAIL FOR PAYMENT DETAILS.

http://www.fourseasontuning.com/?mid=2

If I were the OP and wanted the parts I would pay, the fees for Western Union aren't that high (maybe $15-20 for this value) whereas a bank will charge $30-50 for a TT.

[The_Hawk]

If people are concerned with buying stuff online I recommend Paypal first and if you really need a credit card and don't have one there are plenty of ore paid VISA and Mastercards available these days for very low fees.

What Mav has said it on the money, it's about making sure your seller is credible, if the deal is just too good to be true, it probably is. For those transactions you may want to take greater precautions, but for the more well known companies you should be right regardless of payment method.

Personally I use PayPal where ever I can because it's easy, if I have to use my credit card I will use the "spare" credit card not because it's safer but more because if anything does happen it won't cause me so many issues cancelling a card that is rarely used instead of our main card that has all the auto debits set up.

[mikinoz]

Schoona - I am getting a mate to ship a bunch of parts over for me that I had shipped to his place in Illinois, so get in contact if you are having issues and I can see if he can help out if you get stuck.

Four Season offer PayPal and cheaper shipping to the USA addresses - so that may be an option.

All the best with it, but as above, avoid Western Union.